The talks were chaired by Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, a former head of the oil cartel Opec.
Producers outside the oil cartel, especially Russia and the 'stans, began pumping more.
More likely, say others close to Opec, the oil cartel is a differently composed, more economically sophisticated organisation than it was 25 years ago.
Ali Rodriguez, the oil cartel's secretary-general, said on Monday there was "almost a conviction" among its members to cut production ahead of a forecast drop in demand in the second quarter of the year.
Energy prices, led by a 13% rise this year in the price of oil, have hit new post-recession highs, also driven by the global recovery, as well as the oil cartel Opec's apparent unwillingness to increase supply.
Both the oil cartel Opec and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have raised their forecasts for oil demand next year, but they say economic growth and hence demand for oil is set to remain relatively subdued in the developed world.
It was a desire to keep the oil cartel's market power in check during the oil-price shocks of the 1970s that led western oil companies, denied access to the bounties of the Gulf, to begin extracting oil from the North Sea, Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere.
Oil markets have been rattled by an escalation of hostilities between the OPEC oil cartel and the IEA, oil watchdog for rich western nations.
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Saudi Arabia is one of the key members of the OPEC oil cartel.
President Obama has called for a determined effort to free America from the hold of the international oil cartel.
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Mirkazemi argued that since the OPEC oil cartel has not discussed increasing supplies, Saudi Arabia had no right to increase its oil output.
The populous nation, a member of the OPEC oil cartel, possesses vast oil resources and is active in regional affairs -- most notably in its newly democratic government's efforts to battle HIV and AIDS and its regional peacekeeping missions.
Dearer oil had been on the cards for some time, as the oil producers strengthened their cartel, partly as a consequence of the massive rise in the demand for oil from the rapidly-growing industrial countries.
OPEC, the oil producers' cartel, gathered in Beirut this week under pressure from Saudi Arabia, its dominant force, to raise production quotas.
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Such gratitude is not, of course, due the Saudis - who, we are endlessly told, are among our most reliable "friends" in the Middle East - because they are working to drive down the price of oil set by the OPEC racketeers' cartel.
Members of OPEC, the cartel of oil rich nations are in Venezuela for a one day meeting.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the oil-producers' cartel, estimates that SARS has reduced Asian oil demand by 300, 000 barrels per day.
OPEC's power has been on the wane since the oil crises of the 1970s, when the cartel was able to triple prices almost overnight by restricting supply to western consumers.
Libya's fate is hard to predict but the economic uncertainties boil down to a hoary question: how much is Saudi Arabia, the linchpin of OPEC, the oil-exporters' cartel, able and willing to pump?
Chavez is a price hawk and he, unlike most of the cartel members who are Middle Eastern, is basically asking the cartel to lower its output of oil so that prices will go up.
Meanwhile, Opec has cut supply repeatedly but eventually admitted the oil price is being controlled by countries which are not members of the cartel.
The president of OPEC, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, told the Wall Street Journal that the cartel would not cut production below 24m bpd unless big oil exporters outside OPEC, including Mexico and Norway as well as Russia, were prepared to cut production too.
The cartel was created to stablize oil prices when there was a glut of supply.
The huge revenue windfall has been unevenly distributed among the members of the cartel, which controls roughly 40 per cent of the world's oil supplies.
OPEC, as the cartel never knows how much Iraqi oil to expect.
Such a flood of non-cartel oil makes it harder for the Saudis to manage prices, and may partly explain this week's cut.
Unless this week's news prompts a split in the cartel and so a collapse in crude-oil prices (see article), retail-petrol prices in America may not drop dramatically before the end of the summer driving season.
It stands to reason that replacing OPEC's monopoly with fuel competition will force the cartel and commodities speculators to drop the price of oil.
When high oil prices push consuming economies into recession, it is the cartel itself that suffers most.
If demand cools, and especially if oil fields come online and restore the spare capacity of yesteryear, the cartel will regain its pricing power.
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